The Detective & The Scientist
by Froodle Soup
Summary: A man intrigued by crime and the urge to solve murder cases. A woman who excels in biochemistry. What a unique pair they make. {CoAi Week 2018 Entries}
1. Reliance

_Day 1/ Prompt: Trust_

 _Title: Reliance_

Hiding her disgust, Shiho straddled the man underneath her, while his hands traveled across her body, touching all her curves. A quick gasp escaped from her lips as the man grabbed hold of her head and forced a kiss on her. She wanted so much to slap this man across the face and run out of this room, but she didn't, because this was part of the mission she signed herself up for. All she could for now was keep this guy busy and hopefully things won't go far, but as the seconds ticked, his hand was beginning to reach for the zipper of her dress and panic was now spreading in her body.

She pushed the man away, breaking the unwanted kiss. A feral growl rumbled from his throat as he proceeded to assault her neck with his lips. Shiho looked around, faking her moans. She was waiting for a sign that they were on their way, perhaps the sound of footsteps or better yet–the door kicking open!

From the beginning, she should've gave in to her screaming instincts to reject the offer of being used as bait. How could she have easily told Shinichi yes to this? If she ended up being forced to sleep with this disgusting murderer, she'll personally skin the detective alive and pour acid all over him. Hopefully, if he pops in less than 10 seconds, maybe she'll spare him.

The small panic in her reached at a high peak when she felt her zipper being pulled down and the cold air hitting her bare back. The stupid drunken bastard was trying to undress her. This had now gone far enough and she couldn't sense the help coming anytime soon. Her instincts pushed in and she began to push the man away, trying to get off his lap. It was useless as he still continued biting her neck, roughly.

"I-I-I think that's e-enough.", Shiho panted, now hitting at his chest. All of a sudden, she felt his hands grab hold of her waist, firmly, and push her down onto the bed.

With a chuckle, he got on top of her. "You're not going anywhere," he said, "You're going to stay right here and please me until I'm fully satisfied. Be grateful since I'm giving you what you were asking for in the beginning, slut!" He bunched up her dress and pressed himself against her.

Shiho growled and began thrashing her legs. The man reached out and grabbed hold of a handful of her strawberry-blonde hair, pulling it harshly and eliciting a pain-filled yelp from her. The lingering smell of alcohol in his mouth drifted into her nose as he edged his face dangerously close to hers.

"I don't mind sticking my penis in an unconscious or dead girl!!" He threatened.

She glared at him. "I'd rather die than get raped!"

Fury appeared in his eyes and he reached for a hard object on the bedside table. "If that's how you want it, fine then!" He raised the object, ready to throw it down on her. But before it could ever meet her face, the door to the room burst open.

" **Police!!! Put your hands up**!!!"

Armed men began to swarm the room, holding their guns out and pointing it at the suspect, who was flabbergasted as he looked at each one of them. "What the fuck's going on here!?" He exclaimed, anger laced in his voice, despite the confusion showing on his face.

The officers ignored him and the one in charge repeated what he said, " **Get off the woman and put your hands up!! If you resist, we'll have no choice but to shoot**!!"

Reluctantly, he got off her, shouting a bunch of swears as he held up his hands. Immediately, a group of officers ran over to him, pinning him to the ground and handcuffed him. Amongst the sea of armed officers, a young black-haired man popped out, hands inside the pocket of his long coat and a serious look on his face.

"Nomura Reo," he began, addressing the man, who was now throwing daggers at him as he was getting apprehended, "You're arrested for the the rapes and murders of two women working at a nearby motel."

Reo growled. "Bullshit!" He shouted and would continue to do so as the officers walked him outside.

The black-haired man looked on, shaking his head slowly. He looked over at Shiho, who was walking towards him. When she was now standing in front of him, she turned around. He carefully zipped her dress back up.

"Apologizes for being a tad bit late.", he apologized, looking down at the floor.

"It's alright," Shiho said, brushing away her auburn bangs covering her eyes, "At least you got there and I'm alright, but to be completely honest, I would've been able to fend for myself. I have my gun here." Flashing him a smirk, she kneeled down and pulled out a Beretta 92 handgun from inside her left knee-high boot.

He looked at her, appalled and yet impressed at the same time. Seeing his reaction, Shiho stifled a giggle as she put her gun back inside. After regaining himself, Shinichi gave her a slight frown and asked, "You had a gun there but decided not to use it even when this guy was now overpowering you? Why?"

Shiho smile, shaking her head softly. "Because," she began, "I knew you were coming. I could sense you were coming up. At first, I thought you weren't and was about ready to give that bastard a black eye, but my senses told me no, so I didn't do anything."

Shinichi scoffed, rolling his eyes after she said that. "You know," he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer, "I still can't believe you just accepted to be bait. When you said yes, I thought I was either dreaming or maybe something was wrong with you. Why did you say yes?"

"What's with the sudden questioning, Kudo? Is this an interrogation?" She teased.

" _Ha ha ha_...Just tell me, Shiho. I really want to know."

"The reason why is because, I trust you."

He raised in eyebrow, confused. "What do you mean?"

She laughed before responding. "Because, believe it or not, I trust you, just like how you trust me. At the beginning, I was really hesitant but then I reminded myself that you'll be there and like always, if needed, save me from danger and you came through, just when I was beginning to lose hope on you. I know I can rely my life with you."

A smile appeared on his face. "Well, I did promise I'd protect you, didn't I?"

Playfully, she rolled her eyes.

 ** _Froody's Afternote: So, this is for CoAi Week 2018 which has been organized on the CoAi Discord Server and Tumblr I'm sorry if this was terrible (it totally was). "Trust" was the hardest prompt and I was just not feeling anything for it. *sweats*_**


	2. Regretful Survivor

_Day 2/Prompt: Protect_

 _Title: Regretful Survivor_

The sound of gunshots engulfed her ears, forcing her to close her eyes tightly. Around her, she could hear the cries of the people, who just like her, expected

today to be a normal day, never thinking they'd become hostages for a mass shooter. She remained completely still on the ground until the gunshots stopped and the only sounds in the air were soft whimpering, sobs, slow breathing, and the footsteps of the shooter as she walked around.

"You pigs," she heard the shooter sneer loudly, "I'll make sure every single one of you dies today! This will teach society a good fucking lesson!!"

Shots were fired and people began to scream.

Shiho Miyano closed her eyes once more, trying to block the noise as she edged closer to the wall she was facing in an attempt to hide and protect herself from the bullets. As each shot was fired, she felt a jerky motion caused by the child she was expecting. With her eyes still closed, she moved one of her hands and settled it on her engorged stomach where she began to rub the spot where the baby was located.

' _Everything will be okay_ ,' she thought to herself, ' _The police will hopefully come through, stop this woman, and we'll be out_.'

While deep in thought, she realized that she wouldn't even be in this situation if she hadn't stopped by the baby store. At first she had come here to return a dress she had purchased a month before she got pregnant. On the way to find the exit, her attention was caught by the baby store she had been frequently visiting the past couple of months. Counting how much money she had on her person, she didn't find it any harm purchasing a few more clothes for the baby and it was definitely needed since she was due next week.

After finding what she wanted, that's when it started. Coming out of the store, looking over the receipt, when the all-familiar sound of gunshots immediately made her look up just in time to see a man drop dead in front of her feet, several bullet wounds marking his back. People were now running in one single direction, while others were hiding inside the stores as the shooter was making her way, heavily armed and firing a shotgun. People falling after getting fatally shot in the back was the last thing Shiho saw as she ran back inside the store she had just come out of.

She had managed to find shelter under one of the display tables. Luckily for her, she was the only one using it and didn't attract the attention of the shooter when she had decided to take the people hiding as her own hostages. Maternal instincts struck Shiho when she went under the table and the first thing she did was face her whole body towards the wall, to ensure her unborn child would hopefully be out of harm's way. It had worked, but only for the 10 minutes that have just passed.

A sharp kick from inside elicited a low groan from the expectant mother. When the gunfire had ceased, she opened her eyes and looked across from her. The sight she saw quickly made her regret ever looking up.

The body of a slain employee laid on the carpeted floor with at least 4 gunshots to the head and another corpse on top of her. Shiho realized with sheer horror that the dead employee was the same woman who had checked her things in earlier.

With a small gulp, Shiho turned her eyes away. Her phone, which laid a few centimeters away from her, turned on and she hastily snatched it.

There were at least 9 calls from her husband, all starting from the time the shooting happened, which was not too long ago. After the 9th call, he left a text. Carefully, Shiho opened the text and began to read it.

 **Shinchi** : _Shiho_

 **Shinichi** : _I heard about the shooting just now_

 **Shinchi** : _I'm heading over to the mall_

 **Shinichi** : _Please, I swear to God, text me if you're outside and doing well_

The redhead let out a sigh. She was far from well.

She looked up and saw the shooter meddling with the cash register, too busy pulling out the money and hiding it in her book bag. Shiho quickly took her chance and texted Shinichi back.

 **Shiho** : _hey im doing fine_

 **Shiho** : _unfortuntely im not outside_

 **Shiho** : _im in the bby store and the girl's here_

 **Shiho** : _She has all us as hostges_

 **Shiho** : _pls tell me theyre almost here_

 **Shinichi** : _Oh fuck_

" **Hey! What are you doing!? Calling the police!?** "

Recognizing the voice, Shiho quickly dropped her phone and covered the back of her head with her hands. The sound of bullets being fired was now deafening, but what made the situation worse was the fact the bullets were hitting her. She felt three hit her shoulders, at least one or two hit her legs, and finally one struck her wrist. The shooter would have continued filling her with lead, but someone stood up and yelled, "Stop! That is it! I won't let you shoot at anymore pregnant women."

Shiho heard the sounds of people gasping and could sense a fight between a male and the female shooter behind her. She took this chance to inspect the bullet that was now lodged on her wrist. The bullets on her shoulders and legs were fine for her, after all she had been trained in the syndicate and training there was gruesome, but this wound, it burned like hell. Her teeth clenched in pain as she used a finger to rub off some of the dark red blood that was dripping from the bulletwound. She gasped as she felt another sharp kick from her baby, which added more to the pain that had flooded her entire body.

Then there was a loud bang and most of the remaining people who were alive cried out. Shiho forced her body to move and was shocked at what she saw.

The man, who had stood up and distracted the shooter from firing more bullets at her, was now dead. His body was slumped against another display table, blood from the bullet wound that killed him was slowly staining the shirt that he was wearing.

"Stupid bastard," the female shooter growled, "That's what you get for messing with me, a bunch of lead in your heart! Hell, I was planning at killing you next anyway."

Shiho then heard her begin to walk back to where she was hiding. She acted quickly by laying her head down and staying completely still, playing dead. Though her back was turned, she could already imagine what must be happening; the shooter stopping, kneeling down, and looking at her for any signs of life. She then heard a stifled laugh. "Pregnant bitch's dead– **Ha**! Failed to protect her. Sacrificed himself for nothing." The shooter walked off, giggling to herself.

She was gone and most likely far away, but Shiho did not dare move a muscle, even if her body was aching with pain from the wounds and the horrible kicks in her womb. She would not risk neither her or her unborn child's life at the moment.

 _Seventeen minutes._

She spent 17 grueling minutes pretending to be dead, wondering when the police will arrive. Through that small period of time, the shooter turned on the T.V. to check the news, played classical music from her playlist, and shot at anyone who was alive, shouting many insults at them as she did so. To Shiho and to the others who were possibly still alive, it felt more than 17 minutes…..It felt like an eternity and as each second passed with more bullets being fired, hope was diminishing.

Shiho closed her eyes. The pain from the bullet wounds was now mild, the only thing that remained hurting badly was the baby's continuous moving and kicking. The stress and fear she was building inside her body was the reason why her child was terribly restless. Shiho tried to calm herself, tried to find her happy place and imagined the armed officers making their way to save them, but all her attempts were futile as her child continued. She gritted her teeth, not in pain but in growing _anger_. If anything happened to her unborn daughter because of all this, that damned waste of mother's love shooter would have hell to pay.

Shots were fired and a woman's screams of pain filled the store. Another casualty. At this point, she began to feel guilt. If she had a possession of a gun, she would've ended this horrendous nightmare minutes ago, but even if she did, she wouldn't be able to do anything with her engorged belly in the way; carrying a child and entering into motherhood was a splendid experience, one that she had never expected to go through, but it had it's flaws, one being that you're less faster than you once were, because of the extra weight of the baby.

The faint sound of many heavy footsteps coming from outside the shop invaded her ears and of those who were miraculously still breathing. They got louder, signifying they were getting closer.

" **Put your hands where I can see them!!!** " A man's voice cried out.

The music coming from the shooter's phone was cut off and she jumped off the counter she was sitting in, now making her way towards the SWAT officer, her loaded weapon in hand.

" **Put the gun down and your hands up!** " The officer shouted again.

A faint chuckle came from the shooter. "What if I don't do as you say?" She asked, tauntingly.

There was a moment of grim silence before the officer finally replied. "Then we'll have no choice but to shoot you dead."

Shiho jumped as the horrible sounds of many bullets and the screams of the surviving customers filled the entire store. Then, a loud thud as the shooter's lifeless body fell to the floor.

Her reign of terror had finally come to an end.

Immediately after shooting her dead, SWAT officers flooded the store and began to escort the ones who were uninjured and the ones capable of walking outside. A SWAT officer had noticed her under the display table and fortunately for her, moved it so she could at least sit up, despite the bullets lodged in both her shoulders and wrist. She was incapable of walking though, with both her legs shot. Upon seeing this, the officer called out for one of the paramedics to bring another stretcher inside the store. With help from the paramedics, she was on the stretcher and being pushed outside. She was thankful to have gotten out of this alive, but at the same time her views changed when she looked at the bodies littering the bloody floor of the store.

They laid there, void of life, eyes either closed or looking blankly into space, and their bodies marked by their own blood and the bullets that killed them. What pained her the most was the bodies of two women who were just like her, expecting mothers. She settled a hand over her stomach as she observed the damage the shooter had inflicted on them; this woman had shown no mercy whatsoever and all of it screamed "hatred" to Shiho. Gunshots not only on the women's faces, but also in the place where their unborn children had been growing. She realized with grim horror that this could've been her and her daughter if that man hadn't stood up and if she hadn't played dead. She knew as they left the store, the bodies of those two women being the last thing she saw of the place, that she would be plague with survivors guilt for the months to come.

Spectators and reporters were crowding the parking lot when she got out of the mall. They were looking intently at her and the other survivors that were coming out. She knew that if given the opportunity, the reporters would go all the way to rush over and begin an interview right now, but police officers were holding everyone back.

But even if they were able to keep them at bay, that didn't stop the flashes, clicks, and zooming lens of their cameras as they recorded and took photos of the wounded and blood-soaked survivors. This terribly bothered Shiho since she wasn't the type to happily drown in the spotlight, unlike her husband. She already had her fair share of fame back in the day when she was put in trial for her involvement with the notorious Black Organization and for creating that drug, along with making the worldwide headlines for being able to turn said poison into a cure. Remains of the syndicate were still at large, including the big boss, and it was risky having her face plastered on the news for she knew deep down in her bones that they still haven't forgotten how she betrayed them and brought all their work down. Thankfully, the FBI has put her under their witness protection program and a certain someone was there to cover her when the media was still buzzing about her.

She wanted desperately to cover her face, but she was so tired and the pain in her body was overwhelming. She felt defenseless as she heard the snaps and clicks of the cameras as they captured this moment. All she could do was mask her face with her auburn bangs, but would that be enough to even protect her from the media?

" **Shiho!** "

The young woman looked up upon hearing the familiar male voice. What she saw was her husband running towards her with all his might, sweat running down his face and eyes flooded with worry. His arms wrapped themselves around her for a tight hug. She sighed, happy to be safe, but she became tense when she felt the pain from her bullet wounds increase because of his embrace. Shinichi noticed this and let go of his wife, and settled for slowly caressing her cheek.

"Are you okay, Shiho? What happened in there?" He asked.

"I'm fine, just some bullet wounds on my shoulders, legs, and my wrist," she held up her arm to show him, "Everything will be okay though, surgery and plenty of rest afterwards will work for these. About what happened back inside, hell happened."

She watched as her husband's face twisted into shock and then guilt as he silently shook his head.

"Is our baby, okay?" He asked, quietly.

Shiho nodded, resting a hand against her stomach; all that the baby was doing now was softly stretching around. Another hand fell on top of hers and she turned to look at her husband as he began to softly caress her stomach. Not looking at her, he took in a deep breath and began to speak. "Shiho, I'm so sorry. I should've been there to protect you. If I'd accompanied you, then you wouldn't have gotten shot or experience whatever horrors you saw in there. It's all my fault you and our daughter's life were put in danger."

The redhead shook her head. "What difference would it have made, Shinichi?" She began, "Even if you were there, we still would've been caught. I'm happy you weren't with me, because you may have possibly been shot. It's partially my fault that I got hurt…. I should've just returned the dress and go, but instead I stayed behind to buy for more baby clothes, even if we already have a wardrobe full in the nursery!" She broke into a sob, tears beginning to run down her eyes.

She tried to wipe away the tears, once she saw the pain in his eyes at seeing her like this, but it was futile as they continued to pour down. All those bodies….All that blood….That horrible massacre….She'd never imagined she'd witness one again after escaping the organization.

She felt as he gripped her uninjured hand and looked up at him, teary-eyed.

"It's my duty to protect you," he began, "I even promised you. I know you've told me before, that you're able to fend for yourself, but this–this was a time you were unable to. I would've gone inside if they hadn't stopped me at the police line. I wouldn't give a single crap if I got shot to death, Shiho! At least I would know I was able to secure your safety–"

"That's exactly the reason why!!" She exclaimed, angrily. "That's the reason why I told you to not risk your life for me! Can you imagine the burden knowing someone died because they tried to protect you? Well, I felt that today! Someone inside that store got shot multiple times by that bitch because they intervened when she was shooting at me! They tried to protect me and it ended up costing their life! I'm happy that that wasn't you, but it could still be you one of these days."

"You're saying that, but what about the times you risked _your_ life for mine? Huh? You let them shoot you just so I wouldn't get killed!" Shinichi retaliated. "You lost so much blood that I almost lost you that day!"

Shiho stayed silent, firmly looking at him. She finally responded after a few seconds. "Things were different back then," Shiho whispered, "I still had a debt to pay, returning you to Ran in one piece. I was just doing what I had to do."

"And I'm going to do the same, Shiho! I appreciate your strong personality and how you don't let fear get the best of you, but understand there are times you can't get through something on your own. Especially now that we're going to have our first child! Think about her at least."

She felt a strong kick from inside her womb shortly after he said that and she looked down. Deep inside, she knew he was right, there are those harsh times where her strong demeanor is useless and she can't defend herself as she had expected. She didn't want people to lose their lives because of her though, like that man. Imagine if she hadn't been there, there may have been a chance he could've gotten out of there alive. Even though her husband didn't say it, Shiho could understand where he was coming from….she shouldn't be stubborn and risky now that she had a child on the way, a child who deserves a family and childhood she never got. The same though, should apply to Shinichi as well, who was also stubborn, more stubborn than her in fact, and with his heroic persona.

She looked back up at him and through her eyes, she let him know that she understood. "I hope you know that this will also apply to you, Kudo. Our daughter will definitely need her father.", Shiho said, smiling at him. "You'll have to tone down that heroism you have."

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I will."

"You better. After our daughter's born, our main objective will be to protect her. No matter the circumstances….I want her to have the life I never got to experience."

A warm smile formed on his face and he lightly rubbed her engorged belly, where he could feel their small future move around.

Froodyie's Afternote: *notices while editing this that this was really Shiho centric* lol


	3. Drink Me

_Day 3/ Prompt: Alcohol/Poison_

 _Summary: "Drink me, shrink me, fill me to sink me."_

Tingling sweetness invaded the tip of her tongue as she chugged more of the crimson-red liquid from the long thin glass bottle she held with both of her hands. In the corners of her mouth, she could feel the liquid rolling down and dripping from her chin. Each gulp from the glass bottle brought a wave of warmth, comfort, and home through her entire body; these were things she craved in her life and she vowed not to stop lapping them up from the bottle until it was completely empty.

All of a sudden, the warmth and comfort was immediately snatched away from her along with the wine bottle. She growled and turned towards the one who had stolen it away from her.

The raven-haired man with a detective's badge pinned to his suit clucked disagreeably as he set the half-empty wine bottle on the counter and pushed it towards the bartender.

She could only watch in utter horror as the bartender grabbed it and walked away with it.

"Fuck you, Kudo. Fuck you, fuck you, **fuck you**.", she spat angrily at the raven-haired man as she got off her chair and walked towards a couch near the entrance of the bar.

He followed after her. "Hey, I just stopped you from getting more wasted than you already are!"

"It's my motherfucking birthday! I'm supposed to get wasted tonight! I don't give a single fuck if the hungover lands me in the hospital!" She screamed.

"I know it's your birthday! But that doesn't mean you should chug down 5 full wine bottles like some sort of beast! God, if I knew you were going to end up like this I wouldn't have bothered bringing you here for your birthday. Watching movies would've been better, but no I'm going to be with you when you vomit at 5 in the morning."

"Awww go to hell, Kudo!" She grumbled as she stood up and made a getaway for the bar once more, ignoring his frantic calls.

There was no way she was going to let him ruin her birthday like this. She was done of him ruining everything for her. Tonight was going to be her night and she'll do whatever pleased her. She had lost full control of her senses and body as she snatched a wine bottle from a blurry-faced bartender. After pulling off the cork, she raised it to her lips and began to chug it down.

And there it was again…..

Home and comfort; the two things she lacked in her godforsaken life.

The burning desire to drink up and fill herself with these sensations rose up inside her once more and she tightened her hold on the bottle, unwilling to let go of it. She felt his familiar touch on her shoulder as he attempted to pry the bottle out of her hand, but each pull he made, she gripped it tighter. His shouts filled her ears, but she couldn't make out what he was saying; it sounded muffled, as if something was blocking the sound from going fully through her ear.

In their struggle, she backed away from him and tripped on someone's bag. The wine bottle shattered into million pieces, spilling it's dark red liquid all over the wooden floor. She groaned in pain as she laid on the hard floor, tiny pieces of glass cutting the palm of her hands and a huge throbbing pain inside her skull.

" _Shiho! Oh my god, someone call a damn ambulance!_ ** _Now!!!_ **

_Kudo?_

Shiho attempted to stand up, show him she was okay, but she couldn't find control of her body, everything felt numb. Her turquoise-painted eyes looked up at the ceiling where she was able to see people looking down at her. The white light was too bright, making her squint her eyes and the people were all blurred, she couldn't make out their faces or even see if Shinichi was part of the crowd.

She silently watched as the white light was slowly stained with a deep crimson color and the faces of blurry merged into weird shapes and–

Her vision went black.

Kudo Shinichi shuddered as he looked down at the dry blood stained on his palm, which he had failed to yet wash off. What caused him to shudder wasn't the sight of the blood, but rather who it belonged to.

It belonged to _her_ …..

This was _her_ blood on his palms.

He closed his eyes so he wouldn't look at it, but even as he did so, he could still recollect what happened at the bar tonight; how she fell onto the broken glass of the wine she was drinking from, shards of glass pierced into her hands, and her unconscious body. Groaning, he reached over and grabbed for a wet wipe from a nearby waiting table and began to scrub the blood away.

This was supposed to be fun, but instead he let his guard down and let her get intoxicated with an alcoholic poison and now she's here at the hospital. She could definitely marked this off as the worst birthday ever and it's all thanks to him.

"Kudo-san?"

He looked up to see a solemn-faced nurse looking down at him.

"Your friend's awake and waiting to see you."

Shiho Miyano was leaning against the headboard of the bed in the dark hospital room, looking at her bandage-covered hands and tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.

White light from the hallway suddenly flooded her room as the door burst open. Quickly, she wiped away the tears, hid her hands under the blankets, and looked up to see who had wasted their time to come to see her.

She mentally cursed when she saw who it was.

Shinichi smiled as he ran towards her. "Oh, Shiho. Shiho, Shiho! I swear to god, I'm sorry for what happened tonight and I'll never–", he began.

"What are you apologizing for? I should be the one apologizing. I acted like a total fool out there.", she whispered.

His eyes widened.

"A fool? No Shiho, it's all my fault. I should've been watching over you."

She winced.

"I take full responsibility for the events that have transpired and–"

"I don't need someone to look over me like I'm a child. I'm 20 years old! I'm a goddamn adult woman, Kudo!!" She shouted.

Her outburst caught him by surprise and he sat there, staring at her. After a few minutes, he reached out for her hand under her blanket.

She tried to move away, prevent him from seeing the damage she had inflicted on herself, but he was much stronger and faster than her. He held her bandaged left hand in his own hand, looking down at it. Silently, he gripped her hand before setting it back beside her.

He took a deep breath.

"Shiho, I just want to save you from not only the syndicate but also from yourself. I know your mind and I know what'd you try to do. Do you think I want to see you getting buried six-feet under ground?"

The young woman scoffed. "Save myself? From death? I'm not afraid to die. Times I've welcomed death! I want the poison to wash away all these terrible memories."

"And that poison is drugging yourself and drinking fucking alcohol!? Don't look surprise, I know about your overdosing of sleeping pills each day! I should give up and let you die! That's exactly what the fuck I should do since you don't want my help! Would that make you happy, Shiho? Would it!?"

She looked at him, in shock and tears running down her her face.

"Well? **Answer me!** "

" **Shut up!** Please, just shut up!!!!" The woman screeched, covering her head with her hands as she began to sob, letting the teardrops drip onto her blanket.

Shinichi sighed, leaning back against the chair he was sitting in and draped his arms over his head. He thought that they had finally sought happiness together and that the events of 2 years ago was now in the past as they should be, but he was wrong. It was still the same fucking banter between the two of them, no matter what.

She would always be fill with self guilt and the belief that the only way to solve their problems would be if she was executed. He'd try to help, but she would still be persistent nevertheless.

He hated to admit it, but there were times he just felt like giving her up, nothing was coming out of this. The only thing that actually kept him going and making sure she wouldn't drown into the sinking sand was the love he had for her and the fact she depended on him. Deep inside, he could still feel they had a chance to solve all of this. If only she could know how much he was getting affected by her lack of fixing the problem.

"I-I want to stop, _Shinichi._ ", he heard her stuttered, letting out a small hiccup. "B-b-believe me I do. I like to forget what _they_ did to me, the abuse _they_ inflicted on me and many others, I tried but I can't. My past is a disgusting memory to me and I can't help but remember it everyday. Your efforts to heal me and comfort me are highly appreciated, but they barely help, it's still there. How can I ever be a good partner or bear my own children if I'm imprisoned in a cell of broken twisted memories?"

Her voice faded to a whimper and she silently sobbed.

Even with his arms covering his eyes, Shinichi imagined how she must look like: tightly hugging her petite frame, her disheveled strawberry-blonde hair hiding her teary face, and more teardrops flowing down her puffy eyes.

A young, smart, and ravishing woman, who any bystander would believe was the product of a perfect family. No one would ever know the harsh cruel truth, that behind that strong demeanor, she was actually just a broken soul whose childhood was mercilessly robbed the instant she was born. It really pained him, seeing her like that and knowing what she had to go through in her time with the crime syndicate.

Shiho wiped away the tears, mad at herself for easily breaking down in front him and only adding more to his problems. What ever made her think they could make this work? She was only a burden to hi–

His soft hand caressed her cheek, pushing back a handful of her hair away from her face. She could feel as he carefully held her face in his hands, moving it so she would make eye contact with him.

Her turquoise-colored eyes, with tears at the corners, looked deep into his dark cobalt ones.

At that instant, she could see it–love, promising, and a blessed future _with him_ , awaiting for her.

She broke down, sobbing and clinging onto him. She then looked up at him and slowly brought her lips to his.

"Drink me. Drink this poison out of my body and fill me with enough love to sink me.", she whispered, her warm breath tickling his ear.

 ** _Froody's Afternote: Summary of this story is actually a lyric from the song "Alice" or "Her Name is Alice" by Shinedown, which I kinda used for inspiration along with Birthday Massacre's song, "Kill the Lights", which I vaguely a lyric added into the story._**


	4. Smile

_Day 4/ Prompt: Disguise_

 _Summary: "But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore suffers so much more..."–The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Andersen._

Her satin pink dress dripped on the sandy floor, forming the shiniest pool any human can lay eyes on, as she kneeled down. With delicate grace she reached into the shallow water and pulled out the object that had caught her full attention a few seconds ago; a purple shell.

Such a rarity and she couldn't help but brush her fingers against it's smooth-yet-bumpy surface before silently tucking it in the orange bag she wore around her shoulder. Her "little bag of treasures" he had puzzledly called it the instant he laid eyes on it and when she explained her idea of how to use it.

The visual image of his face clouded with confusion popped inside her mind and she couldn't help cracking a small smile on the memory. Such an intelligent and shrewd man he was when it came to solving the morbid murders that fell upon his feet or anything involving that, but when it came to other topics outside that, he was clueless.

Sighing, she shook her head and made her way to her favorite spot, a rock protruding from the ground. A good place to sit down to read and what a view of the ocean it had. Many memories of hers were connected to this rock and how she felt this very instant to relive them all, but she refrained herself. There were far more important things she had to do. Once more more, she grabbed for her orange bag and pulled out an item from inside. This time it wasn't one of her unique findings she'd discover during her peaceful outings or even a granola bar to snack on.

A small and thin paperback book is what she brought out of the bag.

Her lips formed into a warm smile as she looked down at the cover of the book and ran a dainty finger along it's fine spine, jumping over it's permanent markings that showed it's old age. After she reached the end, her blue-green eyes looked up and read the title quietly to herself.

 **The Little Mermaid**

A classic tale that had a special place in her heart for she related so much to it. In the young mermaid who had fallen helplessly in love with an ignorant prince and gave up her beautiful angel-like voice and her long scale-covered fishtail….She saw herself.

She was a young toddler when she first heard the story, maybe 5 or 4 years old, she doesn't remember what specific age she was but she did recall how her childhood room looked like at the time, her female caretaker, and the warm feeling that was bubbling inside her when the story was read.

When the little mermaid's tragic demise came, she flung herself against her pillows and wept until sleep fell upon her. For the next few days she spent her time sulking over the terrible ending of the story, refusing to do anything except eat and stay in her room.

Everyone in the syndicate's boarding house were worried about her and wondered what to do. None of them had ever dealt with a 5-year old getting hung over a story's tragic ending and refusing to do their normal daily activities. After about two weeks or so, she finally recovered and was happily playing with the other children, much to the relief of the working hands of the children's wing in the boarding house.

The person to thank for releasing her out of her terrible state was her older sister, who had come to visit all the way from Japan, her birth country.

Seeing her sister again a year after they were seperated overjoyed her so much that the sadness left from the heart-rending story became oblivion, especially after her sister had read her a variation of the original story, this time with a very well-deserved happy ending.

Afterwards, her sister had showed her the Disney movie they had made based off this new version and the young girl was immediately in love with the red-haired heroine and her feisty, perky, rebellious, and determined personality. Such a personality had grown a yearning for freedom from the syndicate's cold grasp and to be reunited with her sister, her only family, in Japan and to be a normal girl.

As the years passed, she realized it was hopeless wishing. No matter how much she wished upon a star in the dark-blue sky, it would never come true; she was tied to those malicious crows since her birth and will be until her time came. Her region of reverie was the only place her wishes came true. Each night, she'd dream of her and her sister sitting on a lush green meadow covered with many flowers having a picnic or taking a small stroll through the sandy beach. She'd splashed around in the ocean water with a certain mermaid, playing water tag or giving her huge hugs, hiding her face in her wet red-colored tresses, and allowing herself to be peppered with small kisses.

Then her sister's death came.

The night the news of her sister's death reached her ears became the night that everything she had wished and hoped for withered away.

Months following her sister's death weren't easy; she was locked up in one of the syndicate's gas chambers, her attempted suicide had resulted in her turning into an 8-year old child, and on the run for her life. There was nothing good to grasp for anymore, no reason to continue living.

Maybe except him.

She was now in the little mermaid's _fins_ .

She had fallen in love with a being from a world so much different than hers.

Unfortunately for her, this unrequited love wasn't heading in the same direction as in the Disney movie. It was tragically playing out exactly like the original. The prince showed no signs of admiration for her, he already had a princess to love and cherish, and the days until she was to leave were being counted.

A salty tear rolled down her cheek.

She was glad he had someone, someone better than her, who would be there for him; his happiness was her happiness after all. Still it hurt, the wretched pain in her heart that felt like it had been heavily gored with broken shards of glass. She now understood clearly what the original Little Mermaid went through whenever she took a step on her new feet; each step felt like glass piercing her skin.

Oh, how she was beginning to despise it all, the unfairness. Hadn't she suffered enough in this cruel world?

How she yearned to just let out all her feelings, let him know how much she loved him and the aching pain she was hiding behind every one of her smiles. She wanted to pull away this silly disguise off her, end the fucking suffering and pain she was enduring—but she refrained herself from doing so.

This was her punishment, she knew it, for the crimes she had committed while in the organization. Feeling guilt over the killings she had committed without staining her hands, she reluctantly accepted the emotional state she was being put through. A criminal that doesn't pay for their ghastly crimes is a foolish coward and she did not want to be called such a thing.

Years passed, the possibility of an antidote to cure this curse withered away with the time, and the ache in her heart grew. He was forever trapped in a freakish state, never to be reunited with his true love who had waited for him for so long.

She despised herself for the disgusting happy feeling she felt, now knowing there was hope for her to win his love. Many ideas flowed her mind, ideas of easily taking advantage of the situation they were in and swooping in to be the person he would find comfort, which would most definitely lead him to love her and cherish her. She could've easily done it, but she refrained herself. There was no way she was going to be a manipulative monster, playing with his feelings while he was in his weakest point.

To ensure that her ideas won't become reality, she disassociated herself from him, swimming deep into the depths of the ocean as she possibly could.

But he bent down, grabbed hold of her hand, pulled her up to the surface, and when he did, he tore off the veil she had over her face. Happiness gushed out of her just like the joy-filled tears coming out of her eyes as she was pulled into a deep embrace and felt a soft warm touch on her forehead and then on her lips.

"And they lived happily ever after.", she whispered, with tender smile on her face as she looked at the illustration of the red-haired mermaid finally with her true love.

As she closed the book, she heard cheerful shouts of her name coming from the direction she came from. Looking up, she noticed 4 figures heading towards her. She smiled warmly as she recognized the man, the one she had given her vows to a few years ago, and the three kids, each looking like a perfect blend between her and him. They were all pulling him along the beach with giggles and glee-filled shouts. Seeing him struggle against them, she chuckled and stood up, ready to lend him a hand.

 ** _Froody's Afternote: First, yes those are ShinShi children. I'm a sucker for ShinShi lovechildren lmao. Also this song was heavily inspired by the song from "The Little Mermaid" musical titled "If Only"._**


	5. Enshrouded Truth

_CoAi Week Day 5/Prompt: Secret_

 _Summary: "Do you think they'll ever forgive me? If they manage to figure out all the secrets we have...Will they forgive us? Will they hate me?"_

Another painful scream erupted from inside the closed door of the hospital room and into the hallway, causing Kudo Shinichi to wince and for his sweaty hands to ball up into fists. All his willpower to remain seated was slowly going down the sink as each minute passed and as more screams coming from inside the room filled his ears.

He banged his hand against the small wooden table beside him, causing one of the magazines on it to fall to the floor.

This was total bullshit–how dare they keep him from being by her side during this moment they've been preparing for almost a whole year!? And just because they lacked the curtain to cover her lower body and didn't want him to get "scarred" during the procedure. Heck, his line of work already did that for him with the corpses he's encountered.

He promised her, way back after they've come out of the doctor's office from her ultrasound appointment, that he'll be there by her side like the first time, clutching her sweat-covered hand, letting her squeeze his hand as hard as she'd want, and then finally embrace her after the whole ordeal was over, letting her know it all turned out well. Instead of being with her this moment, he was put in the hospital's waiting room, forced to sit patiently until the door opened.

Fourteen hours have now passed since he last saw her and he was still in the isolated waiting room with his worry-filled thoughts and frustrated anger keeping him company. The screams that he had heard earlier ceased for a period of time, at least 30 to 40 minutes, before resuming once more, along with the doctor and nurses shouting orders.

Worry was picking at his side like a thorn as the wailing and screeching from inside slowly faded away. What was going on in there? Did something bad happened? Or was this nightmare finally over?

"Kudo-san?"

Shinichi looked up from the floor to see who had addressed him. It was a nurse and the doctor, smiling warmly at him.

"Is she..?" Shinichi whispered, loud enough for only the two people in front of him to hear.

The doctor nodded softly. "All went well, no complications and both your wife and the children are doing fine. You can go inside now and meet your new son and daughter."

The young man didn't need to be ask twice as he jumped off the chair and ran to the room, bursting inside.

What a wonderful sight greeted him.

Right in the middle of the dimly-lit room, resting on the hospital bed was his wife and two little bundles cradled in both her arms. Through the dark rings under her eyes and her disheveled hair, he could see her beaming with joy and emitting a strong motherly glow as she whispered softly to their newborn twins.

A soft smile formed on his lips as he continued to watch.

She finally noticed his presence and looked up. "Come over here, they won't bite.", she teased and chuckled at the facial reaction he gave her. "They still have a long way to go before they start growing their teeth.", she continued when he had come over and pulled a chair closer to the bed.

"We'll use our past experiences and also baby remedies when that time comes around. There's no way I want to walk with baby drool all over my shirt again, Shiho." He responded with a small laugh before focusing his full attention back to the twins in her arms. "So, we have a second daughter and our very first son."

"Hai, fraternal twins." Shiho confirmed, a tinge of pride evident in her voice. "We won't be having problems guessing who's who."

Shinichi smiled as a response. "Care to tell me which one was born first?"

She nodded and gestured towards the baby on her left arm, who was silent and looking around with half-closed eyes unlike their other twin, who was still squirming and wailing loudly. Shinichi shimmied closer to the bed so he could get a better look at his child and to take in the small details; they had a small mass of sleek dark brown hair, a little button nose, red-tinged cheeks, and finally a set of dark brown eyes that looked straight at him.

"Your genes are pretty damn strong, Kudo-kun. First Aiko and now with our very first son! He looks so much like you, it almost seems as if you were reborn again.", Shiho commented, clarifying that the first twin out was their first son.

"I can see some things from you in him as well! For instance, look at those cheeks, they're chubby just like yours! He also has your small nose and lips. Hmm...that dark brown hair is definitely from my mother's side of the family and those eyes are exactly the same shade as my grandmother's.", Shinichi said as he reached out to caress his son's hair. The child closed his eyes at the contact but opened them once more after his father pulled back.

The detective flashed his newborn son a warm smile; the infant responded by yawning and averting his gaze back to his mother. This prompted a light chuckle from both parents.

"Now then, I reckon this one here is our second daughter?" Shinichi said, now focusing on the infant in Shiho's right arm. The little red-faced baby girl had stopped wailing and was now nothing but a bunch of sniffles and whimpers with eyes tightly closed. He looked her over, from the light reddish-brown strands of hair on her head to her quivering chin.

Shiho nodded as she bent down and softly pressed her lips against one of her daughter's chubby cheeks, kissing away a tiny tear.

"She took her precious time," Shiho said, laughing, "The doctor and nurses were beginning to think maybe she was too big to go through my entrance and had gotten stuck. They were this close to pushing me down to the surgery room for an emergency C-section, when her full head had managed to slide out."

"Oh man, don't tell me that." Shinichi groaned. "I was a nervous wreck wondering if everything was going well."

"You're talking like as if this was our first child.", the redhead teased.

"Well, this is our first time having twins. Then there's the fact something bad could go wrong.", Shinichi said, defending himself. "Anyway, look at her….Seems like someone finally managed to inherit most of your genes."

"Yes or maybe one of your sperm lacked your genetic coding.", Shiho smirked.

His brows furrowed in playful annoyance as he carefully reached out and grabbed his daughter from her arm and into his arms, cradling her. She responded to this by squirming and whimpering, her lip quivering as if she were to cry again.

"Same hair color, only maybe a shade lighter.", he noted.

"It'll darken later. You should've seen my baby pictures.", Shiho commented.

"Now that, is something I would definitely want to see. After all, you already got a full glimpse of all mine thanks to my mother."

Shiho giggled. "Yes, and they were definitely worth it."

Shinichi rolled his eyes playfully.

"Our little daughter here looks a lot like you–a baby version of you."

"Except with some of your traits thrown to the mix."

"Hai, like her eye color! My paternal grandfather had this shade of blue."

"And so do you, baka."

The detective opened his mouth, ready to retaliate, but the muffled ringing of his phone in his jacket had quickly interrupted him. He handed Shiho their daughter back and grabbed his phone to take the call.

"Moshi moshi? Oh, Akai…..Yes, the twins were just born...Like at least an hour ago or so…..Yes, she's doing well….Wait, right now?? I thought you were coming later this week….Oh okay….Okay, see you soon."

He hung up and looked at his wife, who now had a displeased look on her face.

"What did he want?" She asked, venom dripping at the edge of her sentence.

Shinichi sighed, scratching his head nervously.

"He's coming over right now to check on the twins' info, like time of birth and weight, and put it on the FBI database. Along with applying them under your name in the witness protection program, just like how they did with Aiko when she was born."

Shiho scoffed, shaking her head.

Her husband replied to this by sighing. Even though the whole truth about Akai Shuichi have been let out of the bag, Shiho still held a grudge against the FBI agent. The idea of him coming over to check up on her newborn children did not sit well with her, just like when she had her first child and he had come over for the same reason. She didn't even take into reconsideration a change of attitude when it came to light that they were both related through their mothers.

"Shiho, he's–"

"If you think it's because of my sister and the fact he's been lying to me this whole time–no it's not. I just don't want our children to get drag into this fucking mess. All I want is for everything involving the organization to be left behind in the past where it should. No more living in a world shrouded with secrets and lies, cruel-filled lies.", the woman snapped.

The twins began to wail loudly as her outburst had terrified them.

Shinichi watched as his wife's demeanor changed in a matter of seconds and she looked with horror at what she had caused. Quickly, she began to hush the two, whispering small apologies for frightening them until their wails had become nothing but sniffles and whimpers.

"You know as well as I do that we're still in danger from the organization. What Akai and the FBI is doing is to ensure protection not only for you and me, but also for the twins and Aiko. Isn't that something you want?", he said after he was sure the twins have finally calmed down.

His wife turned towards him. "It is something I want," she began, "But the fact that we have to lie to our children is breaking my goddamn heart. I don't want to live in a world full of secrets, Shinichi. It's hell and I don't want to go through it again, especially with our children. I'm okay with just shrouding away my past, who would even want to know their mother was a killer scientist who worked for the mafia. I was hoping we wouldn't have to get our children involved into this, but no. Then there's the fact that remains of that fucking drug is running through their veins thanks to us–Do you think they'll ever forgive me? If they managed to figure out all the secrets we have….Will they forgive us? Will they hate me?"

"Shiho," Shinichi reached out and grabbed her trembling hand, "There's no way our kids will ever hate you. You're the one who carried them in your womb for 9 months and who gave them life. They'll love you for who you weren't back then, but for who you are now; they'll remember you in their childhood as a loving caring mother who would do anything to make sure they were happy and safe." Softly, he kissed her lips and ran a hand through her hair.

After breaking the kiss, he looked deep into her turquoise eyes.

"Tell you what, to make sure this doesn't bother us for the rest of our lives, why don't we tell them when they're much older, say when Aiko is at least in her 20s and the twins are 17 or 18. I'm sure they'll understand when we explain everything. Hopefully around that the time, that damn organization will be fully eliminated."

"And if they aren't gone, then we won't.", Shiho whispered softly. "I don't want those fucking bastards anywhere near them. It'll be over my dead body."

"Mine as well," Shinichi said, squeezing her hand, "Don't worry, all this keeping secrets will come to an end at one point and hopefully no one is going to get injured badly or worse, killed."

Her lips formed a soft smile.

"I hope you're right, Shinichi," she whispered, "I hope you're right….."

For the next 20 minutes, they sat there, anticipating their 5-year old daughter's reaction when she gets to see her new little brother and sister, reminiscing of the good things that have happened in their troubled life, pondering what the future will bring for their now family of 5, and cooing over their newborn twins, who were lulled to sleep by their parents' conversation.

 ** _Froody's Afternote: Yesss more ShinShi babies lmao_**


	6. The Detective’s Wife

_Day 6/Prompt: Genius_

 _Summary:Shiho has always had an interest in true crime and sometimes eager to provide her own thoughts and theories to cases Shinichi has yet to solve._

Little 5-month old Kudo Aiko extended her chubby arms and gurgled happily, a mush of baby food drooling from her mouth. The cause of her excitement was her 21-year old mother, Miyano Shiho, who was making silly faces at her as a way to get her to eat her breakfast. Unfortunately, her mother had failed to remember about the mess each feeding session left and she clucked, reaching out for a tissue.

"Sweetie, you're supposed to eat the carrots, not spit them out.", the strawberry-blonde woman groaned, wiping away the orange baby food from her daughter's face.

Aiko giggled, more food mixed with her saliva drooling down her chin. Her mother sighed, smiling warmly at her as she grabbed a rag and began to clean up the small table of her highchair, which was heavily coated with orange mush. As she did this, she heard the door of the house opening and closing, a suitcase settled on the floor, and the sound of footsteps making their way into the kitchen. She turned around to greet the person who had just walked in, her husband.

"Hello, how was work?" She asked, setting the rag on the dinner table and standing up so she can undo his red tie.

Shinichi groaned, rolling his eyes.

"That bad?" Shiho asked, faking her surprise.

"I wouldn't say bad," he explained, walking over to their daughter and planting a kiss on her head before sitting down beside her, "Just tiresome since they assigned me another case! Shortly after I finished with the previous one after a whole month…..Anyway, enough about me, how's our little pumpkin been doing today." He reached out caressed one of Aiko's chubby cheeks, causing the baby to giggle lightly.

Shiho smiled, taking her seat. "Great. She got herself all messy during her feeding time, no matter how much I try, she still insists on a spitting out her carrots."

Her husband gasped and looked at Aiko. "Not eating your carrots?" He asked. "Now missy, if you don't eat your carrots you won't have great eyesight or grow up big and strong! Hey, you know what–if you eat your carrots, I'll get you a big chocolate cake, how does that sound?"

The little baby smiled, turquoise eyes gleaming.

Shiho frowned playfully and began to scold Shinichi over bribing their daughter like that. Her husband shrugged, laughing. After he finished, she asked what was on her mind.

"What's the new case about? If you tell me, I might be able to help."

He looked at her and smiled. "Want to brainstorm some theories, huh?" He teased.

Coming up with theories on unsolved murders was a new habit that Shiho picked up. Who could blame her though, her husband's a detective, solving any murder he crosses paths with, and before she got pregnant with their daughter, she was on her third year as a coroner for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Shinichi really enjoyed her smart assumptions and was impressed every time, sometimes he'd even go to her for help when stumped on a case and review what she said.

So, he began to detail her on what today's case was about: a couple was found slaughtered in a nearby park just last night. The coroner's report stated the despite the fact both of their bodies were covered in multiple stab wounds, the cause of death was aconite poisoning. Police officers closed up the park to start their investigation, but at this point they have yet to find a clue as to what happened.

Shiho listened intently, taking in every little detail even as she grabbed their daughter out of her chair and began breastfeeding her. "The murderer must've stabbed them hoping that the police would think that was the COD, they must've not known they do autopsy on the victims, or the stabbings may have been done with emotions, say anger.", Shiho silently stated after he finished giving her the gist of the whole thing. "Do you remember how many wounds they had?"

"Forty-eight on the husband and at least thirty on the wife."

"That's a lot," she said, surprised, "If I was a killer who just killed a couple in a public place, even if it was at night, I wouldn't dare stay behind to stab them just to sugarcoat their true cause of death. Considering how many wounds were left, I say this person must've harbored hatred towards those two and spilled it all out when they stabbed them."

Shinichi smiled warmly at her, nodding to let her know he agreed. He proceeded to ask her this question, "Do you think it was an accidental murder or planned?"

A "are you serious" look was thrown at him. "It was definitely planned, Shinichi," she said, frowning at him, "After all, who in their right mind would carry aconite around. Speaking about that, was Tomoko able to figure out where exactly the aconite came from? Any food in their system that was laced with it?"

He shook his head. "There was no food in their system at all. They must've not eaten anything in the last few hours before they died. Tomoko came to the conclusion that the killer may have spiked a drink with the poison or heck, forced them to drink the liquid from the bottle."

Shiho looked down, deep in thought. "Have you guys made any attempts to locate the knife used?"

She heard him scoff at her question. "Of course, Shiho. We've looked all around the area and have found nothing. This killer did their homework and cleaned up pretty goddamn good."

"True, but there's always something they slip up on. You guys aren't looking hard enough and it's hard to think up anything else with this small limited amount of information. I have to know these people's names, their background, and almost everything to even come up with an idea of what happened. At this point, I'm positive the person who killed them was somebody they must've known.", she stated firmly.

Amusement flashed in her husband's eyes as he laughed, leaning back against his chair. He crossed his arms and eyed her. "Are you sure?" He asked her.

She gave him a curt nod, all while patting their daughter's back. Aiko let out a small burp and went back to sleep when her mother cradled her in her arms once more. Shiho looked down at her firstborn and back up at her husband. "The moment she begins preschool, I'm heading back to work.", she quietly said.

"I'm surprised you even took up a job as a coroner, Shiho.", Shinichi began, "I'd always imagine after everything that happened, you'd go and be a chemistry professor at a university or something, not doing autopsies on dead people."

She looked up at him. Focusing more on biochemistry was something Shiho intended on doing after the whole syndicate fiasco died down. She wanted to continued working on the field she excelled the most in and possibly make her own cures and creations that wouldn't harm anyone. That was going to happen until she decided to accompany Shinichi to one of his criminology classes when he was attending college. Back in her high school years in America, she had taken a criminology class for fun and excelled it. Taking that class was the reason why she took up reading crime books in her spare time when she wasn't doing homework or getting ahead in her studies. When she was enrolled in college at the tender age of 14, she managed to convince the syndicate to put the class in her schedule under the requirement that she wouldn't get distracted by it and fail her biochemistry course; she was able to pass both of them with no trouble.

She realized at that point, sitting beside him and listening to the professor teaching a lesson she already learned about, that she didn't want to continue doing what she was trained to do. As much as she loved biochemistry, she wanted to try something new for a change and this time, the syndicate wasn't there to dictate her on what she could or not do. So, that's how she took up the job as a forensics coroner, helping look for clues on the corpses of the murdered victims, clues that could help unveil what exactly happened and who done it.

Shiho stood up, with their daughter still sound asleep in her arms. "I wanted to try something new," she said, "Inform me if when you get any new info concerning this murder case." She proceeded to walk out of the kitchen.

 ** _Froodyie's Afternote: When I wrote this I rushed it a bit my apologies if it wasn't that good). Also another Shiho-centric fic and another one with ShinShi babies (I'm sorry lol)._**

 ** _Some facts that aren't really that important: Aiko's name is writtened as 愛子 "love child". Shiho making silly faces at her daughter while feeding her is a reference to "The Incredibles" 2004 movie, where Helen Parr is doing the exact same thing when feeding Jack-Jack._**


	7. Noir Cat

_Day 7/Prompt: AU/Alternative Universe_

Summary :"Miyano, you're like a stray cat, invading everyone's homes and gaining their trust. I know you may have some useful information."

 _AU: Crime Noir/1950s_

Sounds of merry laughter and the strong smell of alcohol greeted him when he pushed open the doors of the bar and stepped inside. No one paid him any attention as he walked past and took a seat from an unoccupied table. No one except a waitress though, who upon seeing him, scurried over with a notepad. She stood by his side, a busty tanned woman sporting a common waitress outfit, disheveled black hair shining under the dimly lit lights, and pen in hand, ready to take his order.

"Bourbon, if you have any.", he calmly said, handing her the money.

She let out a squeaky giggle, snatching the money from his hand. "We have a lot, sweetie," she began to walk away, "Oh–and enjoy our star tonight!"

The whole bar darkened, the stage being the only place brightly lit up. He leaned back in his chair and watched with great interest as the rippling red curtains broke in half and a young woman stepped out. The crowd of people began to clap and whistle, he took note immediately that she must be really popular amongst these people at this bar.

The woman with dark auburn hair and clad in the most beautiful black he's ever seen, walked up to the microphone waiting for her. With eyes painted in the most deepest turquoise, she looked over the crowd, a sly smile on her face. She took a deep breath and in a matter of seconds her low sweet voice took over. When she began singing, all the spectators were now hopelessly mooning around, spellbind.

A bloody siren, that's what she reminded him of as he, the only one not affected, watched. From what he knew, sirens were known for their lovely melodies that had the ability to hypnotize any human being at hearing range. They were fascinating creatures and so was she, the woman on the stage. During those last few minutes of her singing, he took the time to study everything about her: her delicate symmetrical face, her soft hair and the way it shined, her curves and body frame, which under that tight black dress looked almost like an hourglass, and finally those bright eyes of hers, which were now staring straight at him when she cut off her song.

Here's your drink, sweetheart, the waitress said as settled his order in front of him.

The young woman walked off the stage and he followed her every move like a hawk would to his prey. She thanked many of her adoring fans as she walked past them and towards a table where a woman her age with long raven-colored hair was seated. The two of them embraced and he watched calmly as the auburn one grabbed hold of her companion's face, directing it to face hers, and lowered down, locking their lips together.

Taking a sip from his Bourbon, he watched in silence at this act of intimate love; the way their lips moved against each other and her hands running through her black hair. He continued to watch until they slowly separated, the woman blowing her a kiss goodbye before walking straight towards him, her turquoise-colored eyes clashing with his.

She sat in the seat across from him, furrowed her brows and flashed him a teasing smirk. "What brings you here to these parts, Kudo-kun? Hopefully, it's your shitty detective work and not about our courtship ?"

He irked at her comment and frowned maliciously at her. "Listen here, Miyano," he began, anger in his tone, "If I was given a choice in this _arranged marriage_ , I would've called the whole thing off the second I found you and her that day I went to visit you."

She scoffed and pulled out a cigar. "You're still hung up on that? Come on Kudo, that happened ages ago. I still don't see what the big deal was, you men are allowed to have mistresses but us not? Sounds completely unfair to me." Carefully, she lit up the cigar and settled it in between her red lips.

"I would never get a mistress, Miyano. You know that I love you."

"I know, I know! You've told me that thousands of times and to be honest, it's completely tiresome.", she said, turning her face away. "Now, did you come here to rant to me about that or is there something else?"

He didn't want to swim away from what they were currently talking about, but he knew he had no choice. He was here for business and that's all. "You know Long Tim, right?" He asked, all while reaching into his pocket to pull out a set of photos taken from the crime scene this morning.

Carefully, she grabbed them from the table and inspected each one of them. "This looks gruesome," she whispered, "And yes, I knew him. We were mutuals through his sister. Hmm, can't believe he's dead. Thinking about it, the bastard deserved it, he was just a waste of mother's love." She threw the photos back to him.

He picked them up and put them back in his coat. "Miyano, you're like a stray cat, invading everyone's homes and gaining their trust. I know you may have some useful information concerning Tim and if you do, tell me or else I'll be force to apprehend you and take you back to the station. Choose whichever route you like."

Except for the chattering of the customers, there was a long silence between them as she looked him hard in the eye. She was thinking, he could see, whether or not to cooperate softly and he hoped to God she does. He did not want to have any troubles with her at this moment, especially in a very public place. His wish was answered as she leaned closer to him. "What do you want to know?" She asked.

For the next 20 minutes, he gathered as much information as he could. During that time period, she requested drinks for both of them. At the end of their talk, his was half-empty, while hers did not have a single drop left.

"That's all I know about Tim," she stated, yawning, "Hope that'll help in your investigation. Now, please leave."

Ignoring her last comment, he thanked her and stood up, straightening his brown coat. Before he could walk off, he turned to her and began to speak, "It was nice seeing you again, _Shiho_ . How long has it been? Three months? I've been trying to find you, just so we can talk about what happened. I really didn't want to talk to you about this case tonight, but as you know my work's much more important."

When he said that, he noticed a frown appeared on her face and she seemed about ready to ramble and get on to him, but she kept calm, only looking him down with her eyes. Grumbling something he couldn't hear, she turned to look away from him and with venom in her voice, she growled, "That's all you care about, Kudo. Your precious work. It was one of the reasons I couldn't love you. Believe me, when we first met, I tried to love you, tried to do it for my parents, but I realized that I couldn't." Sighing, she turned to face to him and did the most extraordinary thing, she apologized to him. In a soft voice, she apologized for never being able to return his feelings and for going behind his back like that.

He felt the urge to ask her why she never confided in him and told him her struggles, saving him the heartbreak of finding her with the Mouris' daughter, but he kept quiet, knowing better than to pressure her in something she either didn't want to or wasn't ready to talk about.

"You know, Shiho," he began, "I still and will most likely always love you. When we get marry this April, I won't try to force you to love me. I'll let you be, make sure you won't dread our marriage, be a good faithful husband, and whenever you need me, you'll know where to find me. Now, I have to leave." He picked up his hat and put it on.

"I-I'll see you at home then.", she said, giving him a curt nod. He nodded back and walked off, out of the bar. For the remainder of the night, she remained sitting there, watching with solemn eyes at the empty seat across from her. If it wasn't for her female companion, she would most possibly have remained sitting there.

 ** _Froody's Afternote: This ties the end of CoAi Week! Yesss!!! *cheers* I really enjoyed this and writing for the entries and hoped you enjoyed reading my entries as well : )_**


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